Rain
by Midnight's Shining Star
Summary: [insert epic summary here] Basically, Deidara and Sasori are travelling on a mission in a great deluge. What happens when a certain blonde gets sick? Sasori/Deidara friendship. T for lang. Requested story for ilovemyboys :)


**A/N: Here's one of the requested stories for ilovemyboys :) Hope you enjoy! I'm sorry it took me so long!**

* * *

_**Rain**_

* * *

The precipitation fell somewhere in between a drizzle and a downpour through the forest. It was a cold rain, as it was the middle of the autumn season. Every now and then a wind gusted through the branches, blowing them about wildly.

"Danna, can't we stop and find some shelter already, un?"

"Shut up brat. We're more than a week out from the village, no thanks to your _antics_ with those ANBU earlier. We don't have time to stop."

"Hey, they were asking for it, un"

Much to his chagrin, Sasori ignored Deidara and instead continued at a faster pace than before.

Deidara grumbled to himself as he trudged after Sasori. They were going on the second day of nonstop rain, and he was soaked. But of course, Sasori didn't understand how _uncomfortable_ it was.

_Stupid feeling-less puppet_

Not to mention the fact that it was also a _cold_ rain. As a result, he was thoroughly soaked and also shivering slightly.

"Hurry up brat! We don't have all day" Sasori called from ahead. Deidara had failed to realize that, in his musings, he had slowed his pace quite a bit.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" he called back, then added under his breath, "crazy bastard, un."

"_What_ was that, brat?" Sasori asked, tone clearly conveying his annoyance.

"Nothing. Geez danna, give me a break, it's not like the end of the world, un"

"Shut your mouth you insolent brat"

"What, before you _poison_ me? Oh I'm so scared, un" Deidara said sarcastically, with a roll of his eyes.

"_I dare you to say that again, brat"_

"Hm, not in the mood, but thanks for the offer."

"Obstreperous twerp!"

"Thank you, un"

"That wasn't a compliment you damn brat! Now shut your trap before I _make_ you. I don't have time to put up with any of your chicanery today."

"Pfft, whatever"

Deidara snickered as Sasori stalked off even faster than before in front of him. And to think the puppet master accused _him_ of a short temper.

The rain gradually became heavier and heavier as they travelled on. Deidara tried to ignore the fact that he was _wet to the skin_ in the stupid rain by cursing Sasori under his breath and playing with some of his clay. Every now and then he glanced up to glare at Sasori, but the Akasuna always had his back turned to Deidara and didn't quite seem to care about the blonde's predicament in the slightest.

"Sasori no _dan-na_! I think it's getting worse, un. Can't we just find some shelter already?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, brat, even if we were to stop, which we _aren't_, there isn't any shelter around here. I fail to see your problem. It's _just_ a little rain."

Deidara scoffed at that. _Little_ was an understatement. And of course, Sasori would say that. Not like the rain affected him in any way, so long as he kept his precious puppet scrolls dry.

"We could _make_ something, un. Come on, there's not much daylight left anyways"

"_Exactly_. Which is why we need to get as far as possible before it gets dark. Now stop lazing around and get a move on!"

Deidara crossed his arms and kicked at the ground, pouting childishly as he walked.

_Asshole_

Eventually, it began to get dark, but still Sasori pressured them on, even though the rain continued steadily.

_He's so obsessed with this stupid mission. _Deidara thought angrily to himself. _He's only one half of the team though._

Deidara thought that Sasori might not have stopped at all, if it weren't for the simple fact that even the puppet master could not see in the dark.

"We're stopping here" Sasori announced. Deidara grumbled something about arrogant partners who thought they knew everything, but stopped when Sasori sent him a chilling glare.

"I'm going to see if I can start a fire or something, un" Deidara told his partner.

"And exactly _how_ do you plan on managing that?"

"I'm not _stupid_ danna" Deidara said with a roll of his eyes. "I have explosives that are specially made for water or wet circumstances; I'm sure there's some _drier_ wood somewhere, un."

Sasori glared.

"Don't"

"What? Don't what?"

"That's a bad idea, brat. Even if you insane idea actually _works_, there could be other shinobi around who could _see_ it, or hear the blast you make with those petty explosions of yours. It's stupid."

Deidara was seething for more than one reason. First, Sasori claimed his idea was ludicrous when he knew it worked (he _had_ done it before, after all), and secondly, he insulted Deidara's art. Plus, he was cold, and wet, and the warmth of the fire would have been _very_ welcome, even if it was only a small one.

"What do you mean, bad idea? It's freaking _cold_ out here! And pouring rain, un. But you wouldn't know because you can't feel it" Deidara growled back.

"I don't like your tone brat. And that just sucks to be you then. Deal with it."

Deidara grumbled and cursed Sasori under his breath as he threw his packs down and lay on the cold, wet ground.

_Stupid jerk! Why do __**I**__ have to be partnered with the only person in Akatsuki who can't physically __**feel**__? Hell, even __**Itachi**__ might be better in this situation. Bastard!_

* * *

Deidara woke to the rain pouring down heavily on his back, and the feeling of stiffness all over. He opened his eyes groggily and saw, much to his disappointment, that it was _still_ raining. And, was it just him or did the rain seem to get more violent during the night?

Deidara closed his eyes and rolled over, pretending that he never woke up in the first place. _He_ wasn't getting up until he had to. Not until Sasori came over and physically-

"Get up brat, time to go."

Well speak of the devil.

Deidara opened his eyes.

"Come on danna, it's not even much light out yet" Deidara mumbled, trying to get his partner to _leave him the hell alone_. That was a mistake.

Deidara felt a hard kick to his ribs and immediately bolted up, glaring daggers at Sasori.

"What the _hell_ was that for?"

"You know _exactly_ what that was for, brat. I don't have time to deal with your insolence this morning. Now let's get going you moron. We don't have all day."

Deidara pushed himself to his feet, still glaring at his partner. Sasori had already started to walk off. Deidara stretched his stiff limbs and followed after his partner. It was going to be a long day, and the weather certainly wasn't looking up.

* * *

"Fleeting!"

"Eternal!"

"Fleeting, un!"

"Eternal you damn brat!"

"Nuh uh danna"

"Damnit Deidara, how can I expect a _kid_ like you to understand _anything_ about the finer points in life. It's worthless trying to explain this to you."

Deidara crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue at Sasori.

"That just means you don't have an explanation, un!"

"SHUT UP BRAT!"

"I win, un"

"What part of 'shut' and 'up' do you not understand?"

"Hm, maybe the shut? Or no, probably the up part, un"

"Why you little-!"

Sasori swung Hiroku's tail at Deidara who managed to dodge just in time.

"My, _someone_ has a short temper, un"

"You better watch your mouth brat before I decide to do something about it."

Deciding he didn't really want to deal with his angry partner much more, Deidara dropped the matter.

"Whatever"

They walked on in silence for a bit more with Sasori grumbling about "stupid brats" under his breath.

Deidara began absentmindedly rolling around some clay in his hand. By now the rain had turned into a full out downpour, but it hardly mattered. There was no way he could possibly be any more _soaked_ or _cold_ than he already was. Occasionally, the wind blew in gusts making the rain all the more uncomfortable, but he knew there would be no relief from the damned rain any time soon.

Sasori was adamant at making any more stops than necessary, and there wasn't any place to take shelter. Sasori complained that making anything took too long so Deidara had to be content with finding the driest spot he could underneath a tree when they stopped.

A few days passed and Deidara was _convinced_ the weather was just trying to spite him. Sometimes it came in drizzles, sometimes it was a downpour, sometimes it lasted hours and sometimes it was sporadic, but it _didn't stop at all. _If he wasn't so wet and miserable, he might have admired how spontaneous the weather was being. As it stood, Sasori was being a cranky bastard and he was soaked to the skin.

"Danna! Look, a cave! Can we stop for just a bit, please?"

Sasori glanced briefly in the direction Deidara had been excitedly pointing in.

"No"

"_No?!_ Oh come on Sasori-danna, a couple hours isn't going to make that much of a difference, un!"

"Yes brat, it will"

"But it's _freezing_ out here! And I'm soaked, un. I want to stop."

"Too bad for you"

"But-"

"No means no Deidara! Now, SHUT THE HELL UP! With any luck we'll make it to the village tomorrow evening and _then_ we can stop."

Deidara grumbled and hugged his arms to his chest in a futile attempt to keep warm. Sasori wasn't being very fair, he thought. Screw the mission, all he wanted was to get out of the damn rain and have a nice, hot shower, a good meal, and a warm bed. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded and the more miserable he felt. He sneezed and rubbed his nose, something that had been occurring more frequently recently. Damn Sasori.

* * *

"AA-CHOO!"

Deidara sneezed and sniffled a bit. Sasori cast a momentary glance over his shoulder.

"Hurry up brat, we don't have all day!" he called back to his partner.

Truth be told, the sneeze was almost worrisome. It had been happening all day and the brat was complaining of the cold…

Humans and their complaints. How inconvenient. In the end, he had just brushed it off. If there was anything really wrong with the blonde, Deidara would tell him. Or he would notice. Deidara was fine. Besides, their mission took priority. The brat just needed to realize that.

Eventually it began to get dark. For once, Sasori was surprised to not hear anything from Deidara about stopping for the night, or shelter, or anything of that sort. He looked back for a moment at the blonde who had his eyes downcast and was rolling around some clay in the palm of his hand. He looked ahead. Deeming it to be dark enough, he stopped.

"Don't-"

"I _know_, un" Deidara bit back angrily, before Sasori could even get his words out.

"Watch your tongue brat."

"Whatever"

Sasori shook his head as he set down his things for the night. The brat would be _fine_.

* * *

Deidara watched as Sasori quickly fell asleep, envying the puppet master. He himself was freezing with the amount of rain and cold there was. He curled himself up tightly in order to try and keep himself warm, but it helped little. He brought his icy fingers up to his mouth and blew on them. His whole body felt stiff and sore, but he dared not complain to Sasori. The puppet master would only tell him to suck it up and move on. He sneezed for what felt like the thousandth time that day and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.

…

"I said, WAKE UP!"

Deidara felt himself being harshly shaken awake by his partner. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared in a daze at Sasori.

"Time to get up brat, don't make us late."

Shaking himself awake, Deidara slowly got to his feet, his body aching in protest. As soon as he was up, Sasori started off and Deidara had no choice but to follow closely behind.

The day wore on and Deidara felt absolutely terrible. He was still wet and shivering with the cold, hell, he could feel his teeth chattering. He was also sore, and felt like he was sneezing every ten seconds. Also, he started coughing.

It wasn't like Sasori cared though. He wouldn't let them stop.

_Stupid bastard_

Deidara muffled a cough.

_I __**hate**__ this!_

Another cough forced its way up his throat and he hurried to cover it up.

Sasori stopped to turn and look at him.

"Is there something wrong, brat?" he asked, eyebrow raised and tone slightly annoyed.

_Yeah, I'm __**dying**__ here!_

"Nothing, un"

Sasori narrowed his eyes and Deidara glared back for as long as he could before turning to the side and lightly coughing.

"Hmph"

They walked on a bit more. Deidara wondered what would happen if he just stopped and refused to keep walking with Sasori. The puppet master might try and kill him, but who cared? At this point he was miserable enough.

"Danna?" Deidara began his voice slightly ragged.

"What?"

"Can we stop for just a couple minutes, please?"

Just a short rest, that's all he needed. Then he would go as far as Sasori wanted for however long.

"…Fine"

Deidara thought he might die of shock.

"We'll stop for fifteen minutes, but no longer, got that?"

Deidara nodded in understanding before finding the driest spot he could and settling down. He tried to keep himself awake but eventually found himself drifting off.

* * *

"…_Wake up Deidara!"_

…

…_._

…

"_Brat? Deidara? Do you hear me? Time to go!"_

…

…_._

…

"_Shit…"_

The blurry images faded along with the distant voice.

* * *

"Deidara! I said get up!"

Sasori shook his partner again. The ice blue eyes slightly opened, but Deidara didn't seem to be focusing on anything.

"Brat, come on!"

No response.

"Brat? Deidara? Do you hear me? Time to go!"

Nothing. The blonde's eyes closed again and he moaned softly.

Sasori stopped shaking his partner and tilted his head curiously. Slowly, he brought a hand to Deidara's forehead.

_He's…burning! _

Sasori was surprised by the amount of heat radiating off his partner's body and wondered how he had not noticed it before. He grabbed the blonde's wrist.

"Shit…"

His pulse was wicked fast, and his breaths uneven.

Sasori placed his hand back on Deidara's head, and though he wasn't supposed to be bothered by such things, he almost flinched away at how _hot_ the brat was.

"Ugh…this is bad..."

He gathered his partner closely in his arms and got up. Deidara coughed and moaned. Sasori mentally cursed himself. He should have let the brat stop the first time he asked. Hell, he should have tried harder to find some shelter. Not being human anymore, it was easy to forget just how frail the human body actually was.

Sasori ran through the rain with his partner, his mind trying to come up with solutions to the current situation. Deidara moaned and shifted his position, clutching at Sasori's cloak and trying to bury himself deeper in Sasori's arms. It was then Sasori noticed that his partner was shaking violently with the cold weather, though he burned with fever.

He cursed his luck. He needed to get Deidara somewhere warm and dry as soon as possible. He would have put his own cloak over Deidara, but that would have been of little use. His cloak was just as soaked as the blonde's and as such would not have provided much, if any, comfort. He would just have to try and hurry to that village. He didn't know of any other place that they could go, though if he saw one he would stop. At the moment, however, there were no such places.

He ran for quite some time before stopping.

_Well, shit!_

In front of him was a river that was too swollen with the current downpour of rain to cross safely, especially with his sick partner, and it would take days to get around and find another route.

Scanning the river bank, Sasori's eyes landed on a small cave. He dashed towards it.

He began to place the blonde down but Deidara whimpered and clung on to him like a drowned kitten. Sasori began prying Deidara's arms off him.

"Ugh…shh, Deidara, shh…"

Deidara shivered and moaned and only clutched tighter onto his cloak.

"Come on…Deidara…shh…"

The blonde's eyes blinked open hazily for a moment and at first Sasori could tell that Deidara was wondering what the _hell_ was going on. Then, recognition flickered in his eyes as he looked at Sasori.

"Danna…" he tried to bury himself in Sasori's arms as he shivered more. "Danna…I'm cold…"

"Of course brat" Sasori admonished softly. He tried to pry his partner off him once more but was met with Deidara's protests.

"Ugh, come on brat…shh…calm down…"

Deidara's eyes were closed once more as he clung to his partner.

"Shh…Deidara…it's…alright…come on….shh, I'm not leaving…shh" Sasori coaxed, unsure as to what he was doing but he must have done _something_ right as eventually, he managed to calm the blonde down and lay him on the ground.

Sasori looked around and found some dry wood in the back of the cave. He immediately lit up a fire so that his partner might dry off a bit. He then pulled out an extra cloak he carried and wrapped Deidara in it. Deidara unconsciously pulled the cloak tighter around himself and stayed close to the fire.

Sasori placed a hand on Deidara's forehead once again.

_Still burning up…Of course…_

Deidara's eyes opened slowly again. He seemed to be struggling with the line between awake and asleep as Sasori noticed that he kept waking up and falling asleep.

Deidara shifted his eyes towards Sasori.

"Danna…"

He shivered and coughed.

"Danna…it's cold…"

"What do you want me to do about it?" Sasori snapped, maybe a bit _too _harshly.

Deidara looked at him pleadingly, his cheeks burning and eyes glazed over with fever. Sasori raised an eyebrow before slowly, _slowly_, pulling the blonde towards him, holding his partner gently.

"You're such a pain…" Sasori mumbled.

"It's _your_ fault you know…" Deidara mumbled back before shivering suddenly and sneezing.

Sasori bit his lip.

"I know"

But Deidara didn't hear him as the blonde had fallen asleep yet again.

Sasori sighed as he ran a hand over the blonde's hot forehead. The question was, what did he do now? The rain would only make Deidara's condition worse; it was probably best for Deidara to stay put. But the cave was still damp and Deidara's clothes were wet. Sasori was hoping the fire might help dry his partner off but he wasn't sure how long it would last. There wasn't that much dry wood.

Deidara coughed and Sasori looked down at his partner. He was worried about Deidara's sickness becoming something worse like pneumonia. He barely had any supplies to work with; he had been planning on getting to that village sometime that day, but that didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon.

He could go by himself to the village, it wasn't far. But to leave the brat alone, exposed the elements, with the possibility of enemy nin being around…

No, that wasn't an option. At least, one that he was willing to use right now. He had to do something though. He could chance the dangers of the river and the rain to try and get his partner to the village, or he could wait to see if the weather would let up at all or if Deidara's condition improved. Sasori glanced outside the cave at the rain that had suddenly become a torrential downpour again, then back at his quivering partner who slept with a pained expression.

It looked like he would just have to wait for the time being.

* * *

The first thing he noticed was a warmth slightly off to the side. The second was that his head was resting on something. Tired though he was, he felt himself slowly growing closer to consciousness, and the cold he felt along with the aching in his body made sleep impossible. Slowly, Deidara opened his heavily lidded eyes and tried to focus them on the blurry images in front of him.

"Sasori no danna?" his voice came out weak and ragged.

The puppet master was looking down at Deidara with a rather annoyed expression, one arm under the blonde's head.

"Do I _look_ like someone else?"

Deidara coughed.

Sasori sighed and grabbed a canteen from somewhere, pressing it gently to Deidara's lips while he slowly began to drink.

"What's going on, un?" he asked, sitting up once he had finished.

"What does it look like? You somehow managed to get yourself _sick_ and now I have to waste time taking care of you, idiot."

_No thanks to you_

"Geez, if it's that much trouble why didn't you just leave me, un?" Deidara retorted, trying to sound angry but only sounding tired.

"_Because_" Sasori began, as if the younger shinobi was the biggest idiot in the world, "it would be highly inconvenient if you died on me. Besides, I don't have time to train a new partner."

"Glad to know I'm still useful…" Deidara grumbled before breaking off coughing. His head throbbed and his whole body hurt. Also, it was _very _cold.

He was surprised as Sasori frowned and reached forward to rub circles in Deidara's back in order to ease the coughing.

"Th-thanks…"

Sasori huffed and crossed his arms.

There was a short period of silence, at which Deidara could hear the rain pattering on the roof of the cave.

"Can you get up?" Sasori asked suddenly.

In answer, Deidara slowly pushed himself to his feet before swaying and leaning against the wall of the cave for support. He felt Sasori at his side suddenly, holding him up.

"Good. We have to get to the village. You can make it?"

"I guess so…"

Deidara could feel Sasori's eyes looking him over. Really, now that he was up, he only wanted to collapse in a little heap on the ground and sleep. It was cold. He was miserable. But he didn't want to argue with Sasori.

"Good. Let's go"

* * *

Sasori kept glancing out the corner of his eye at his brat of a partner who was leaning against him now. Deidara said he could make it, Sasori wouldn't question him. But the blonde's body was radiating heat. He knew his partner wasn't fine, which was all the more reason to hurry to their destination.

The problem was, it was still raining. Sasori could _feel_ his partner shivering violently. At least the weather hadn't been as bad as earlier, and the river had calmed, allowing them to cross. Sasori knew the village wasn't far, but "not far" in ninja terms could be anything from five to twenty miles. He was sincerely hoping it wasn't twenty.

Deidara coughed harshly and Sasori stopped them for a moment.

"Are you-"

Sasori didn't get to finish asking his question. His partner suddenly turned and doubled over, vomiting up whatever he had last eaten.

Sasori's eyes widened a fraction as he knelt down next to his partner and placed a hand gently on the brat's back. Once Deidara had finished, he leaned back into Sasori and closed his eyes.

"U-ugh…Sasori-danna…I don't feel good…"

_Obviously_

"I know"

Sasori sighed. This wasn't working.

"I know"

Quickly, he scooped up his partner, earning a yelp of surprise from the blonde.

"We have to get to the village" he explained simply.

Deidara blinked a couple of times before Sasori felt him settling down. Soon, the only sounds he heard were the pattering of the rain and the uneven breaths his partner was taking. He looked down momentarily and found Deidara had fallen asleep. He hurried. Deidara obviously wasn't improving and needed someplace to rest. He only hoped he could get to where he was trying to go soon. Very soon.

* * *

Before he even opened his eyes Deidara knew they weren't outside anymore. There was something soft under his head and body as well as something covering him. The atmosphere felt warmer, even if he still shivered with fever-induced chills. He slowly opened his eyes and scanned his whereabouts over. He was in a room at some sort of inn. Sasori must have brought him here. Speaking of which, where was the puppet master? Deidara didn't see his partner, nor did he feel Sasori's presence anywhere in the room. He sat up slowly.

He shivered and coughed a bit as he got a better look around the room. There wasn't much to take note of. The room was fairly plain, nothing extraordinary. He wondered where Sasori was as his partner was definitely not in the room. The thought briefly crossed his mind that maybe he should get up and find the puppet master, but he didn't have the energy. He felt tired and laid back down, tugging halfheartedly at the blankets. Suddenly, the door swung open.

"Danna!" Deidara sat up too quickly and held onto his head as the feeling of dizziness overcame him.

"You idiot" Sasori admonished, walking over to the side of the bed and pushing the blonde back down. "Don't make yourself worse. We've wasted enough time on this mission as it is and you're certainly not helping."

Deidara grumbled silently to himself. Sasori only cared about the damn mission. It was Sasori's fault they were here in the first place. After all, it was the puppet master who kept pushing them along in the foul weather. He would have liked to remind Sasori of this fact, but he simply did not have the energy to do much more than grumble at his partner and turn over on his side, coughing harshly.

He suddenly felt a cool hand on his forehead and turned to look at Sasori with hazy, questioning eyes. Sasori's face held a scowl of annoyance as he tapped a thermometer to the blonde's mouth and he sighed as he pulled it away a moment later, reading the instrument.

"At least your fever's gone down a bit"

Deidara snorted and rolled his eyes, turning his back to Sasori.

"_Whatever_, un" he mumbled.

"I don't like your attitude, brat"

Deidara scoffed, irritated at his older partner. He was still feeling quite miserable and Sasori was not helping matters in the least.

"Then leave, un" he coughed.

"In case you haven't noticed, brat, you're sick. And since you are obviously incapable of handling yourself, _I_ have to stay here."

"Sucks to be you" Deidara muttered.

"Do you _want_ me to throw you back out in that storm brat?"

_Like he would do that. Though who knows? Maybe he would._

"No, un" Deidara shook his head quietly.

"Then drop it"

Deidara muttered something under his breath, but either Sasori chose to ignore him, or the puppet master truly hadn't heard him. He shivered a bit and weakly tugged at his blankets again, trying to get warm.

Sasori sighed and bent over, pulling the blankets up and over the younger shinobi. Deidara's eyes widened slightly in surprise as Sasori placed a hand on the blonde's forehead yet again.

"Just stop being a pain in the ass and go to sleep already" Sasori demanded, impatiently.

Deidara frowned slightly, but obliged as he closed his eyes.

_Stupid danna. He's so mean._

…

_Stupid brat. …Don't ever do this again. I'll kill you._

* * *

**Owari! Reviews make me happy! **

**~Ja ne**


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